Recruitment rage is back on the B-school campus. If summer-placement figures, released by the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) on Monday, are any indication — and they invariably are a fair indication — the final placements scheduled for the first week of March are worth looking forward to.

All 254 first-year students — highest among the big-league business schools in the country — have made their way into the corporate world, with 20 of them bagging foreign offers. From IT services to NGOs and investment banking to hardcore manufacturing, 77 companies visited the Joka campus to recruit summer interns and went back with their bags full.

Automobile, IT consulting and manufacturing have made a “strong comeback”, while insurance firms and NGOs have made their first foray. Marketing jobs continue to figure at the top with 33 per cent, followed by finance (30 per cent) and systems (20 per cent). Investment banking picked up 11 budding managers. Among those making their Joka debut were Evalueserve, Aviva, Fritolay and National Kidney Foundation (Singapore).

“The increasing breadth of the kind of firms and the nature of jobs being offered are very encouraging,” said Prof Mrityunjoy Mohanty, chairman, placements and alumni. “We closed the summers earlier than last year and we are also ahead of others in placing our first-year students. The results suggest that most companies are back in recruitment mode, which augurs well for the final placements.”

The final placements will start on March 8 and the successful summer placements have set the stage for an “easier” process, as compared to last year. “The number of firms participating in the final placements process has shown a steady rise over the years. In 2002, 88 firms had signed up, which marked an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year. We expect the trend to continue this time,” concluded Mohanty.